sloan



2 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

0. SLOAN.- APPARATUS FOR INCAS ING WIRES WITH LEAD.

Pal/wanted Jan. 11, 1887.

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(No Model.) 2 she et as-esheet- 2.

E. O. SLOAN.

- PARATUS FOR INGASING WIRES WITH LEAD.

.No'. 35 4. Patented-Jan. 11. 1887.

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ELISBIA G. SLOAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO OHADWIOK LEAD WOBKS, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR INCASING WIRES WITH LEAD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,844, dated January 11, 1887. Application filed March 15, 1886. Serial No. 195,299. (No modehl To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELISHA O. SLOAN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Apparatus and Method of Using the same for Incasing Wires with Lead or other Soft Metahof which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

A great necessity of the time is to place in the large cities telegraph-wires under ground, and in order to protect the conducting-wire from-contact with the ground it is usually enveloped in some non-conductingmaterial which insulates it; and in order to protect the insulation from the destructive action of earth-contact with it, it has lately been customary to cover such insulated wires with some soft and poor conducting metal-such, for instance, as leadand this lead covering for insulated wires is also desirable for wires that are to be embedded in plastering for electrical service in buildings; and besides this other electrical conductors are being experimented with in which a lead envelope is applied to serve a different electrical purpose. Consequently at the present day the covering of wires or groups of wires by a lead envelope, and perhaps, also, by a tin or other metal envelope, is an important thing to be accomplished readily, cheaply, and certainly, and the present invention is intended for the application of such metals as can be put on in the pipepress for which lead is used as a generic name. Of course it is desirable that this protecting surface of lead shouldbe as thinly applied as possible, in order that the expense of useless metal may not be incurred by having it too thick in one place, nor insufficient protection be given by having it too thin in other places.

It has also been found in applying lead to electric conductors that if the conductor is exposed too long to heat the insulation is apt to be disturbed, and in some instances destroyed; and if oil or other liquid is employed to preserve the conductor from injury by heat while coating with lead, this introduces another source of injury to the insulation of the conductor. It is with a view of applying lead or tin in the lead-pipe press to electrical conductors that the present apparatus is devised, whereby it is not necessary to expose the insulated wire for any great length of time to heat, or to carry it through a heated place for any great distance, and in which, also, it is not necessary or admissible that any cooling liquid should be applied to the insulated wire or the metallic envelope after that has been put upon the wire. admirable purpose in gaging the thickness of the metallic envelope. V

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of the machine which I employ. Fig. 2 is a'vertical section through the die-holder and its dies in the place where the adj usting-screws are situated. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of a die-holder and its dies. Fig.4 is an elevation The apparatus also serves an upon the same scale as Fig. 2 of the die-block.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the die which shapes the interior of the lead casing called the core or coring-die. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the die which shapes the exterior of the lead easing. Fig. 7 is a'view of the scale attachment to the adjusting-screws F F.

In Fig. 1, A is the motor which furnishes power to force the metallic lead. into its proper place upon the wires. By means of the yoke a, which is attached by connecting-rods a a to another yoke, a, the piston B, which piston is attached to the yoke (0 is held station'- ary, and the cylinder O,containing the lead or tin,is forced up against it. This cylinder Gis like the ordinary cylinder of a lead-press,and the motor A is supported upon a base or on the top of a column in an ordinary way.

Turning now to Fig.2,the cylinder 0 is represented with its contents of lead or other metal suitable for this operation at '0. Its bottom is made with a disk-yoke, c", which is connected by holding-down bolts d with the flanged top D of thehydraulic piston. In the interval between these two yokes, and forming the bottom of the hollow part of the cylinder O, is placed a die-block, E, which is made in two parts, as shown in Fig. 4, one of which is marked E and the other E, and this die-block is centered and held in place by the securingblock F, in which are made two opposite threaded cavities for the adj Listing-screws F F,

which adjusting screws have hollow axes.

and h.

The upper part, E, of the die-block is formed with a gabled roof next the hollow part of the cylinder 0, and at the lower part of the incline on each side of the ridge of this roof isa channel, 6. The lower side of the upper part of the die-block E is made with crossing semicircular recesses, one opposite pair of which semicircular recesses communicate with the channel 6, and the other opposite pair, f,form the recess for the dies which regulate the application of the lead covering. The lower part, E, of this die-block is formed with a neck, as shown in Fig. 2, which fits into an appropriate cavity in the securing-block F,

and the upper part of it is formed with CI'OSS',

ing semi-cylindrical recesses efflthe die-block being adjusted in place in the securing-block with its recesses e in connection with the channels c, and with its recesses f f opposite the place of the adj listing-screws F F.

Itwill be seen that there is a passage for the lead or other metal to the cavity in which the dies areto fit. These dies are two in number, one of which, 9, forms and gages the outside of the lead covering, and the other of which,

h, forms and gages the inside of the lead covering. Ipreferto make these diesin two parts, as shown in Fig. 2, one of which would be a die-holder, to which the letter G or H is ap-v plied in the drawings, and the other of which would be the die proper, which is represented in Figs. 5 and 6; but itis obvious that the dieholder and die proper might be readily made in one piece, if desired. It is better, however, to have them, as described, in two pieces, because of more ready adjustment of themachine and requiring fewer large parts. These dies 9 and It can be set up toward each other by the screws F F", and can be put in any situation that is desirable in order to applythe lead covering, which situation will require to be changed according to the thickness of the envelope, the quality of metal, and various other conditions of the work.

I have marked in the drawings what I have heretofore called the die proper, Fig. 3, g The die ghas a concave tapered cavity presented toward the lead, and the die It has a projecting conical point which approaches the internalconeofthedieg. Awire,i,beingpassed through the hollow screw F, the die-holder H and its die h, and the die 9 and its die-holder G, and through the hollow screw F is in a condition to be covered with lead. The lead in the cylinder, being pressed by the piston B,

flows through the channels "6 into the trans verse channels 6, with which these channels 0 communicate, and hence sidewise into a considerable cavity in the center of the die-block E E, which surrounds the dies h 9.

For the purposes of this description it is now desirable to distinguish between the two dies 9 and h, and for the purpose of distinguishing between them in the remaining part of this specification, the die h, having a conical point, will be called the coring-die, and the can be made of the thickness and tightness with which the lead is applied to the wire within certain limits desirable in practice, and by moving the outside die, 9, toward or from'the coring-die h an adjustment can be made of the thickness and tightness of the metal applied, the mobility of both dies apparently giving morecontrol over these qualities than asingle adjustment, so that by this arrangement of having both coring-die h and the outside die, 9, adjustable toward and from each other not only the outside diameterof the lead covering, but also the inside diameter of the lead covering, can be gaged within certain practical limits. This is desirable, because in some sorts of insulation the tightness or looseness of the envelope modifies the insulation, and it is also desirable because with some sorts of insulation the closeness or remoteness of the lead envelope modifies the conducting power of the wire, which is explained by electricians as a disturbance or alteration caused by the so called magnetic field.

Let us suppose now that the dies are in place and the wire passed through them, and

an order has been given to produce a lead covering laid on with a certain degree of tightness and a certain weightto the foot. Pressure is applied to the lead and a short piece of wireallowed to runthrough. This is weighed and the tightness of it examined, and if laid on too tight the adjusting-screw F is set up a little. If the Weight'of the covering is correct, the adj usting-screw F would be adjusted a compensating amount; but if the weight of the covering was too much or too little the adjusting-screw'F would be setup a little less or a little more, and after having found by experiments and stripping a few feet of the wire that the tightness is right and the weight of the covering is right, the machine can be run continuously and new lead supplied from time to time, which will unite in the usual way under pressure with thick coverings or at any rate under heat and pressure with the remainder of the old lead until any desired quantity of wire is covered practically of uniform weight and uniform tightness. Scales f*, Fig. 7, showing the position of the dies, are attached to the heads of screws F F, which enable any adjustment to. be repeated without experiment.

It will be seen that the wire is constantly exposed to air until it actually enters the coring-die h, where it is for only a short distance exposed to the heat of the lead, and i1uinediately after passing through the outside die, it again comes into a cavity where the air circulates, and presentlyinto the open ai r, wherei n it will rapidly cool.

It will be noticed that the conical end of the coring-die h is much blunterand at a much greater angle with the axis of its cone than has been usual in the corcs'of lead-pipe machines or machines for covering wires with lead, and this prevents'it from springing out of its place, and also gives with a very moderate motion to and from the hollow of the die 9 a very considerable change in the tension of the metal, and I believe this bluntness of the conical end of the die is to a considerable extent the reason why the tension is so readily adjusted; and hence in speaking of the coringdie it in the claims I do not intend to claim 'a coring-die which has a long and fine conical point, but only one'which has a blunt conical point substantially likethe one shown hereinnamely, a point which presents at the cross ing of the two sides extended an angle of fortyfive degrees at least, and I prefer that this angle atthe apex of the cone should be approxi' mately near to a right angle.

I am aware that various apparatus for running wire to be covered transversely of, the motion of the main column of the lead in the cylinder have been described and patented, but the peculiar combinations of this appara tus wherein its efficiency consists have not been hitherto announced. The adjustment described is such that it is possible to put on the lead with almost no compression upon the wire, and also to put it on with a less diameter outside than that of the interior cylindrical part of the outside die, 9, and apparently the lead is rolled onto the wire very much as a stocking is rolled onto the leg.

As the outside die is not fitted in laying on the lead by this machine, the imperfections of the cable or wire are shown on the outside of the lead covering, which is an advantage in laying the covered wire, as an imperfect piece may be detected and cut out before it is laid.

This method of rolling on the lead also allows it to be put on very evenly and exactly. Thus. less weight of lead gives as great protection as a greater weight applied unevenly.

The change from one size of die to another or from wire covering to other lead work can be very readily madein this machine, more so than in any other which I have ever used.

- Havingthus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. The combination, with a leadcylinder and its piston, of a dieblock, E E, forming the bottom of the hollow part of the cylinder, and held in place by suitable means, said dieblock being provided with the vertical chan the hollow adjusting-screws F F, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with an outside die, 9, of an adjusting-screw, F as a means for gaging the size of the exterior of the lead cover for wire independent of the interior cylindrical diameter of said die, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the die-holder Hand its die h with and arranged in the die-block E E, and in combination with the adjustingscrew F, whereby the coring-die h is adjusted to and from the outside die, g,without opportunity to spring or get out of center, substantially as described.

7. The combination,with one of the dies for the formation of a metallic tube and with the adjusting-screw thereof, of a scale-head, f

applied to the exterior endof said adjustingthe metal to be run maybe registered upon the outside of the machine, substantially as described. p

8. The construction of the coring-die h with a point the sides of which if prolonged would intersect at an angle greater than forty-five degrees and proximately near a right angle, substantially as described, and for the purpose stated.

ELISHA O. SLOAN.

Vi tness es:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, FRED. B. DOLAN.

screw, whereby the position of the forming- I die within the machine and in contact with- 

